Got paid to today - or at least notification that they've initiated the bank transfer which may take up to three days to arrive. It's my experience that the smaller a company is, the more quickly they will pay. Recently, one of my clients - a non-profit outfit with a total staff of 2 - paid my invoice only two days after I'd submitted it and was apologetic about taking so long. The 'transfer is in the ether' notification I've just had is from a multi-national with a turnover in the billions, is more than two weeks overdue, finally arrives after a 'dog ate your invoice' incident, and seems to be proceeding through an extra slow banking process unavailable to us mere mortals. To reassure me, though, the company name includes the parenthetical "(Professional)" just in case I'd got the idea they were a bunch of amateurs.

A Twitter correspondent tells me he was emailed by a 'big, big company' saying they would be paying no more invoices until June. He replied that if their bills went unpaid they could kiss his hairy arse for service (I assume he was paraphrasing, but you never know), and oddly enough they 'made an exception'. He reports that the isn't the first time he's been in that situation and it appears to be a normal business practice in the US. Perhaps that also explains my current situation.

» Jonathan Ross and the Hugo awards: why was he forced out by science fiction's self-appointed gatekeepers? : The Hugo awards: have you heard of them? Until Saturday morning, if you didn't have "SFF geek" or "SFF author" in your Twitter bio then it was probably a no ... On Saturday morning it was announced that Jonathan Ross would host this year's ceremony at Loncon 3. By Saturday afternoon you might have heard of the Hugos, but not for the reasons that would have led you to finding new books, new authors, and new ideas. - Ah, fandom.

» Why The 1996 TV Movie Saved Doctor Who - As a "bloke-who-watched-it-on-the-telly" Doctor Who fan I thought the movie was fun, and that McGann would have been a decent Doctor if he'd been given the chance. Matt C, the 'fanatic' I mentioned a couple of days back, whippersnapper that he is said that the 1996 movie made him into a Doctor Who in the first place, which struck me at the time as actually slightly absurd. This article puts the film into a 'fan context' that I was entirely unaware of. Ah, fandom.